It's A Savage World
by TheHeroOfTime64
Summary: After a terrible accident in a New Yorker lab, which researched plagues, Annabeth and her boyfriend had to split up. Percy disctracted the creatures so she could flee. Now six months later Annabeth is on a journey to find Percy - hopefully alive. In the meantime Percy lost his memory. There are so many questions. For example: What exactly happened to the world? (Zombie AU)
1. Prologue - Annabeth

She wanted to go back.

Of course, who wouldn't want to go back in her position?

And with back she didn't only mean back to the pick-up. She wanted to go back to a time when no one wanted to eat off her face. And a time when she didn't have to shoot someone in the face. Her last companion always told her that they weren't 'someones' anymore. They were as good as brain dead. She just had to believe it herself…which was harder than expected.

But she also wanted to go back to a time when Percy was still with her. Since that horrific night six months ago when Percy had to leave to save her.

The world was a savage place now. Many people call them zombies, Annabeth calls them Goner. Because their out of their mind. Or trapped in it. She still wants to believe in the humanity in them.

She stabbed the last one in the head and then cleaned her knife with grass that grew on the side of the road. She had to stop with her pick-up because of the zombies that were blocking the road. They seemed to not have had anything to eat for a while. Normally when they hadn't eaten for a long time they get into a trance that made them more useless than they've already been.

Oh gosh, Annabeth has read so many stories about zombies. The ones where they could run faster than any human. Or the ones where they walked so slowly you could outrun them with just walking by. The real ones were way more complicated.

Annabeth wasn't prepared for them to be like that. She has always been a tough girl and her mom has allowed her to go kickboxing to train and to defend herself when needed. But was she prepared for this kind of apocalypse? Where some zombies were faster than others and they gave up completely when not fed? Where she sometimes saw life in the eyes of these… these creatures.

But she didn't fear to kill them, even if there still would be life in them. Survive or die, that was the new world. What she really feared was the probability of Percy being one of them.

She didn't like to think about Percy. Percy was her boyfriend and he fled through the front door of her house to distract the zombies. So she could get away safely.

Him being a zombie – horror.

Then she wouldn't see a reason to go on with fighting. She was looking only for him, because she loved him. Loved him oh so much.

Being friends since they have been twelve and getting together with sixteen made them close. Really close.

So close that Annabeth has been driving across half the country just to find that one boy… even though there was not much of a chance to find him alive.


	2. Chapter 1 - Percy

**Percy's POV**

Who was he? He looked in every corner of his mind, but he didn't find anything. What _happened_ to him? He tried to open his eyes, but he seemed too exhausted to do so. So he just tried to use his other senses. He seemed to be carried. But carried to where?

"Oh, shut up. He seemed to be a living creature. Reyna will know what to do with him."  
"All I'm saying is that Reyna will not be too pleased when we bring a desolated stranger with us. We even can't be really sure if he hasn't been bit."  
"Come on. We looked at him and the only ones around were Trancies. Trancies haven't eaten for a while and as much as we know they won't do it again. Once a Trancy, always a Trancy."

Percy! That was his name.  
He wasn't too sure what to make out of the conversation of the guys carrying him, but after a few moments his name came to his mind.

"Hazel. Listen. Maybe we should just leave him here, I'm scared of what will happen."  
"He won't go all lunatic on us. He got a real bad hit on the head. Would you for once relax, Frank?"

A girl and a guy. The girl sounded young, the guy a bit older. And most likely their names were Hazel and Frank. Now that he had three names in his mind, he kind of wondered about the rest of his memory. What exactly happened to him? And why was the guy so scared of him?

He finally forced himself to open the eyes a bit. Just to see who carried him. The guy was tall, baby-faced and looked like he came from Asia. He was the one carrying Percy's upper body. The girl was small, dark-skinned and it seemed like she had more hair than Percy could possibly have seen. Well, at least he thought so. It wasn't really the amount of the hair, more the thickness of it. Like, he didn't really think it were more hair like his own, but it definitely looked like more.  
He thought some really confusing shit.

He groaned. He didn't want to, but his head hurt like hell. This scared the guy and he let Percy drop to the ground. The air got knocked out of Percy's lungs and he started to cough.

"That wasn't pleasant," Percy muttered pressed. The guy took a bat apparently out of nowhere and wanted to hit Percy but the young girl – she looked like she was maybe thirteen or fourteen – yelled at him.

"Don't you dare!" she exclaimed pretty bossy. "Don't you hear him talking? He is alive." Her voice dropped to a gentle tone. "Relax, Frank. He probably is just confused. Like I was the first time we met. And aren't you happy you didn't kill me off right away?"

Percy sat up, rubbing his head. He felt a big lump at the back of his head but didn't actually think that it came from this fall out of – assumed – thirty feet. Gosh, that guy was _really_ big.

The girl, who seemed way more mature than she looked, offered Percy a hand to help him up. He accepted it appreciated and let her pull him up.

"What is your name, Stranger?" she asked. Percy looked at her, stunned. The girl had stunningly golden eyes, incredible. After a moment he collected himself and answered the girl.

"I'm… I'm Percy, I think. Since, you know, that's the only thing that was on my mind when I came to myself."

Annabeth.

He didn't know where that came from, but Percy was sure that that name was important. Annabeth. It sounded _so _familiar. The girl in front of him smiled sympathetically.

"I'm Hazel. That is Frank. We were about to bring you to our camp, where some other survivors live with us. You maybe can stay there too, if Reyna and the others are okay with that."  
"Wait. What? Why survivors? What happened?"  
The two of them frowned at each other, then Hazel broke the silence again.

"We'll show you the way. You'll talk to Reyna, see if you can stay with us. And hopefully we can tell you about all this. If you'd like to. Just follow me."

Percy shrugged, then exclaimed a 'sure'. And while Frank looked at him suspiciously he followed Hazel.

* * *

With camp Hazel definitely understated. This wasn't a camp – that was a little town.  
When Percy and the others came to some walls and after checking if they were alone they knocked a few times. Percy figured they had to knock a particular amount of times, so others would know if they belong to them or not.

After a while a part of the wall started to move and they hurried in. As they arrived inside Percy had to stare in awe. It wasn't much, he was sure he's seen some bigger places, but it was something. If it really was true what Hazel said – apparently this Reyna girl built everything herself with the help of a few others – then this was a huge thing.

He turned his head a few times so he could take it all in. After a while Frank was a bit weirded out by that so Percy stopped. Percy might have been a lot in the past, but he didn't really think that he was a mean type of guy. Or if he was, he didn't want to go on with that.

Hazel and Frank showed him around, talking about all the buildings and such. It was amazing, it was like this place didn't witness any of the drama outside. Whatever that drama was.

"Now we'll bring you to Reyna. Hopefully she'll let you stay, it would be a shame if not."

They got to the biggest building in this little town. It wasn't much, it was just a two story house, but it was definitely the biggest house around. Hazel went in, leaving Frank and him alone.

"So. Nice town you have," Percy tried some conversation. Frank seemed uncomfortable but immediately he answered. "It's everything we have. We're lucky."  
And lucky was he for having such a great company. But Percy felt some sympathy for the big guy. If the world was really such a savage place like they both let it seem, he was the last one to blame Frank for his bad mood. After a few minutes of silence Hazel came out again and told Percy that he was allowed to go in. He didn't really want to, without a memory it was hard to know what to expect, but he kind of had to.

So he took a big breath and climbed the steps to the veranda, then went inside.

* * *

The inside was incredible. A lot of junk which Percy would have liked to inspect closer. He spotted a collection of swords and knives and he felt an itch in the back of his mind. Like he was supposed to know how to handle those things. He wanted to grab one of the swords but before he could, someone cleared his throat to get his attention. He turned around and found a fierce looking girl around his age. She was beautiful but he felt like he shouldn't think that. Like someone else is destined for that thought. He brought the situation back into focus.

"I'm Percy," he said. "I'm here for Rey-Reyna?"  
He was not sure if that girl was this Reyna Hazel and Frank talked about, but she looked like she would rule that whole town. Her face seemed to stay in this fierce expression all the time and her stature radiated power and confidence. Incredible. She eyed him suspiciously before she turned around and told him to follow her. He followed the dark haired girl into another room, where she told him to sit down. The room was full of books and old, dark furniture. Where the hell came that from, if the world was really a savage place? Percy wanted to ask, but he didn't find the courage for that. Reyna looked like she would kill everyone who did something she didn't want. So he sealed his mouth shut and just sat down on an old sofa.

Reyna inspected him, looked him all over before she started to talk. But when she did, Percy immediately knew that girl had authority and charisma.  
"Hazel told me about you. She said you don't know anything anymore but you seem like a useful guy." Percy started to smile, that went into a good direction. "But we don't need useful guys. We – I, especially – need trustful guys. So, Percy, are you trustful?"  
His smile faded. He would've answered with yes, but he didn't know. Was he trustful? Has he been trustful?

So Percy did the only thing that seemed to be the right thing to do.  
"I personally don't know. But what I know is that I will try to help you with everything I can. And I will be as trustful as I can be. The state of my mind considered, you know."

He smiled as innocent as he could and after a short while – which felt like way too much time for Percy – Reyna nodded.  
"Good" she said. "That shall be enough, now I will tell you about this savage world you heard about. But believe me you'll regret it. Afterwards you'll wish you didn't witness that all."  
He wasn't so sure if he didn't already regret it.

* * *

_Reviews are really appreciated. It's my first really big project in English so I would love to hear what you think about it. If you point out mistakes it will be appreciated too, but do it friendly please. _

_Anyways I hope you enjoyed this first chapter and hopefully I will be motivated to go on! :)_


	3. Chapter 2 - Annabeth

**Annabeth's POV**

She couldn't believe it. How long was it since she's seen other human beings? Other than the Goners?

But there they were. Three at once, that was unbelievable. When she was walking through the woods to look for anything edible, she didn't expect to find others. But then she stood in front of one, both holding their guns in the others face. Jason realized that she was human and then, after a short persuasion not to kill him, he brought her to their camp. But she knew better than to simply trust any human that came by.

Annabeth has always been smart. In school she has been the positive girl who was happy to go there every morning. And she was so inquisitive, so jittery every morning. She kind of missed that.

But she had to focus on something else right now. They were sitting at a fire, roasting an animal that Jason shot. It looked filthy and it wasn't shot cleanly, but it was better than nothing.

They were three, two guys and a girl. The girl, Piper, was pretty, no not really – she was beautiful. She had a bit darker skin, it looked really smooth, seemed to be Native American. Her hair was beautiful even though it was chopped. Did she cut the hair herself? Well, with the world being like that, it was the only option.

Jason, the guy that found her, was pretty tall, maybe a bit taller than Percy. But there ended the similarities. He was blond, had paler skin, shorter hair and he seemed a bit more focused than Percy usually was. She missed him, comparing that guy to her boyfriend made it worse.

And then there was that small guy, Leo, who tried to make himself bigger than he was even though Annabeth could see with one look that he was insecure. He tried to seem confident – didn't work. But maybe only for Annabeth since she was pretty good in seeing those things. Well, at least that guy didn't remind her of Percy that much. He was small, Hispanic – with curly, dark hair. But he had that expression in his face that Percy had when he knew people thought he was funny.  
Oh god, she missed her boyfriend.

While Annabeth was lost in her thoughts Piper sat next to her. She smiled at Annabeth and gave her a water bottle.  
"You should drink something," she said and Annabeth thankfully accepted. "Where do you come from, Annabeth?"  
She took a sip of the water, then put it aside. Annabeth hesitated for a second, not sure if it would be good to tell them anything about her. But her place of origin is not that big of a secret.

"New York," she simply said. "Where do you guys come from?"  
"I'm from L.A., lived there with my father. Leo is from Houston and Jason… well, Jason doesn't exactly remember where he comes from, but we think it also was somewhere in California since we found him there."

Annabeth studied Jason a bit closer. She knew better than Piper. She knew that Jason isn't the poor guy she thought he was.

"You all are far away from your homes. Why that?" Annabeth asked. Piper looked at Leo then absently to her hands. Leo answered for her. "Piper and I were in a special school together, before all of this happened. We were looking for Piper's father but… We couldn't find him."  
Piper sniffled, then looked up to Annabeth. "Instead we found Jason wandering around a bit disoriented. He led us here, he wanted to get away from California."

Annabeth wondered what was on Jason's mind. After what he told her to convince her not to kill him, she wasn't too sure about trusting him. But as he said, that she should wait and not kill him, because he knew where her boyfriend was, she couldn't fight her curiosity and went with him. Now she was sitting in between of two seriously kind people and him. The guy she couldn't figure out as easy as she was used to.

"We should get going," Annabeth said. "It's not safe here. How come you're still alive considered that you don't have any protection here. You're in the open."  
"Well, we were here for a while now and before you no one came around. It's a wonder you didn't shoot Jason. I mean, the way you're talking, someone could think you would kill off everything that comes around," Piper said, but not really angrily or something. She was smiling like she appreciated Annabeth's instinct and wariness. She had to smile back.  
"You know," she looked to Jason. "He had some good arguments."

* * *

After Annabeth convinced them to leave the woods and come back to her pick-up with her, they packed everything up and wandered back. It started to get darker, the last sunlight vanishing slowly. They had to make it back in time or they wouldn't be able to see any danger coming.

Suddenly there was an ear-piercing sound. Annabeth yelled that they needed to watch out and then a fast Goner was coming right at them. Jason took out his gun and shot, right through the Goner' head.

"Are you stupid?" Annabeth hissed. "Do you want to attract all the Goners around?" She took out her knife, gave her gun to Piper and then took her hand. They could already hear muffled noises of other Goners, which were close by. "We run. Shoot everything you see, don't lose track. If you don't have a gun," she looked at Leo with his baseball bat in his hands. "Use everything else you have."

Piper squeezed her hand and she realized how odd it was to hold her hand after that short of time. But it is a strange world and Piper seemed so nice to her. She had a feeling that Piper could be a great friend.

She focused on the situation. "Ready?" They nodded. "Run!"

Annabeth couldn't think of another time where she had to run that fast. They jumped over a fallen over tree when the first Goner came in sight. Jason shot it, Annabeth rammed her knife into its head, having a strange feeling in her gut. She heard another bang of one of the guns as another Goner crumpled to the earth. Piper shot it through the head like a pro. Annabeth grew to like her more and more.

The guys were a bit ahead so the girls had to run faster. Leo smashed a Goner's head with his bat and yelled to the girls that they should hurry. Annabeth could already see the street far ahead. They had to make it.

Suddenly Piper tear painfully at her arm. She looked back and had barely enough time to ram the knife into a Goners head before he could bite Piper. The Goner slumped onto Piper while Annabeth tried to pull her out underneath it. Her clothes and face were smeared with its black blood and Annabeth feared that Piper would throw a fit because of that. But surprisingly Piper just took Annabeth's hand again and they ran. Annabeth couldn't believe it, she thought Piper was one of those girls that took their look way too seriously, but she surprised her with being a badass. Annabeth smiled as they came closer to the guys.

"We're nearly at the street. We need to find my pick-up, then I'll try to get behind the wheel while you guys get up the truck bed and try to shoot the Goners that'll come after us. Get it?"

They agreed and as they broke through the edge of the wood they looked furiously for the pick-up. It was down the street, maybe two minutes away. They just _had to_ make it. Annabeth ran first, this time not holding hands with Piper. She heard a few bangs of the guns and was lucky enough that no Goner was in her path. She reached the pick-up, checked the inside and then jumped in. She looked for the others, Leo already on the truck bed, as Piper climbed onto. She turned the keys, but it didn't work.

"Annabeth drive!" Piper yelled. "We don't have any ammo left."  
"I'd fricking liked to but it won't start! In one of the corners are some other guns."

Piper shuffled around and after a short time Annabeth heard bangs again. "Come on. Come on," she chanted and turned the key over and over again. Suddenly a Goner knocked its head against her window. She jumped.

"You shit," she cursed, then tried the keys again. Finally the pick-up started and Annabeth thanked god. She stepped on the gas and off they were. She heard some last bangs then everything went silent except the whirr of the pick-up. Piper climbed into the driver's cabin through the window in the back and settled herself in the passenger seat. The girls smiled at each other.

"You are one kind of a girl, Annabeth. I'm really happy we found you."  
Annabeth only could agree to that. Leo put his head through the window behind them.  
"Good job, Ladies. But I have one question," he said and Annabeth turned to him. "Where exactly are we going to now?"

Annabeth turned quickly looked back and found Jason sitting at the edge of the truck bed, staring absently into the distance.

"Easy answer," Annabeth said focusing on the street. "We're on our way to California."

* * *

_So that's the second chapter. I want to thank you for the reviews you wrote and I'll try to keep it up._

_I start to really enjoy writing this story and hopefully you enjoy to read it. :) _

_(Reviews are of course still appreciated ;))_


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